


Now Comes the Night

by warbreaker



Category: The Evil Within (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-05
Updated: 2015-01-05
Packaged: 2018-03-05 12:35:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3120368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/warbreaker/pseuds/warbreaker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A tiny mood piece written for the Joseb Secret Santa Exchange on tumblr. Six months after the events of the game, Sebastian and Joseph aren't living together, but they really should be. Only their partnership can chase away the monsters in the dark.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Now Comes the Night

**Author's Note:**

> Fic titled after the song "Now Comes the Night" by Rob Thomas.

It’d been over six months since the incident with Mobius, Ruvik, and STEM. By this point, Joseph and Sebastian may as well have been living together.  
  
Things had gotten worse before they’d gotten better. Neither of them had been allowed back to work right away - especially not considering the fact that the entire KCPD was undergoing a massive personnel overhaul as all of the corruption was rooted out and thrown away. While neither Sebastian nor Joseph were on the chopping block, it was still better for everyone involved if they’d just stayed home and focused on recovering from their ordeal while the entire precinct focused on recovering from their own.  
  
Unfortunately, staying home hadn’t helped. Being alone and without distraction had only made things worse. Joseph started to panic about every little thing his body did, constantly afraid that he was still bleeding internally and would start coughing up blood at any minute. He had phantom pains from gunshot wounds he’d never actually suffered, and sometimes the sight of himself in the mirror startled him. It was almost as though he  _expected_  a monster to be staring back at him.  
  
For Sebastian, it felt like he had an existential crisis damn near every day. He had an unbelievably hard time deciphering dreams from reality, and half the time he was convinced that he was still trapped inside STEM. Sudden changes in balance and perspective put him into a panic like nothing else, and he’d developed a minor phobia of the dark. One night, a few of his brothers in blue had shown up at his house after receiving a call from one of his neighbors that they had heard gunfire. It’d been humiliating for him to admit that he’d fallen out of bed while he was asleep and, unable to tell fear and fiction from reality, had grabbed the gun he kept on the nightstand and fired off three rounds at a shadow in the corner of his bedroom. It’d looked like Laura Victoriano at the time.  
  
That had been months ago. After no small amount of hemming and hawing, foot dragging, and half-hearted threats and promises back and forth, Joseph and Sebastian finally pushed themselves and each other into therapy. It’d been a catastrophic nightmare at first, especially for Sebastian, but once the dust settled and therapy started to feel normal, things started to take a turn for the better. They could both turn the lights off now. They slept more soundly. They smiled more. They sat in silence, staring off a thousand miles away, less often. Joseph had finally been able to bring himself to start eating meat again. Sebastian stopped keeping a gun beside his bed at night.  
  
They still weren’t allowed back at work, though, and things were far from perfect, or even okay. Joseph admitted that he still harbored self-destructive thoughts and urges on occasion. Sebastian still frequently woke up in the middle of the night in a panic, not knowing where he was. But they both felt safer and more stable when they were with one another. They  _weren’t_  living together, but they really  _should have been._  
  
It was well after 2:00 in the morning when Sebastian let himself into Joseph’s apartment. He’d woken up to a panic attack no more than an hour ago, and he wasn’t willing to go back to bed alone. Part of him felt stupid and ashamed for it - like he was some small child insistent on sleeping with his parents after a nightmare - but he knew that Joseph would never judge him or turn him away for it. Most of the lights were out in the apartment, save for a table lamp and the faint glow of the TV in the common room. Sebastian toed his shoes off and left them by the front door before quietly padding over to the couch.  
  
Joseph was curled up on his side, sleeping soundly across the cushions of the couch as an infomercial for a set of knives played on the TV with the volume turned down low. His cat, Hina, was sleeping right beside him, tucked between his wrist and his stomach. A small, fond smile touched at Sebastian’s lips as he looked down at the both of them. They looked so peaceful that it chased away damn near all of the ghosts that’d tailed him all the way here. Hina stirred and lazily raised her head as Sebastian got close, but she was quick to relax and fall right back asleep when he gave her a few affectionate scratches behind the ear.  
  
Suddenly, the thought of sleeping alone didn’t seem so unappealing anymore. Sebastian was more than happy to leave Joseph to his restful sleep on the couch while he retreated into the bedroom, because just knowing that his partner was safe and sound was enough. He leaned down and grabbed the TV remote from the coffee table in order to turn the TV off, but he decided to leave the lamp on; he didn’t want Joseph to panic if he woke to a completely dark room when it hadn’t been so when he’d fallen asleep.  
  
There was still one more thing to do before he headed in, though. As gingerly as he could, Sebastian reached over and plucked the glasses from Joseph’s face, careful not to jostle him too much or bend the frames as he did. He folded the arms back as soon as they came free, and then moved to rest them down on the coffee table. Joseph sighed in his sleep, and Sebastian couldn’t help but smile again. It was a rare thing these days, to catch his partner without a shade or shadow of fear or worry on his face. He affectionately tucked a few stray strands of hair behind Joseph’s ear and curved his touch down back around to the line of his jaw.  
  
"Goodnight, Joseph," he murmured quietly.  
  
With that, he turned and headed for the open door of Joseph’s bedroom. He only got about halfway, though, before he heard the faint sound of fabric rustling and weight being shifted around on the couch. A second later, there was a soft _thump_  against the carpet as Hina jumped down to the floor. Sebastian turned back around and glanced over to where his partner was slowly rolling over onto his stomach and struggling to see without his glasses.  
  
"Seb?" Joseph called out tiredly.  
  
"Yeah," he said. "I’m here. Go back to sleep, Joseph."  
  
Joseph rubbed at his eyes with the side and knuckle of his index finger as he let out a tiny yawn. Then he gave a stubborn shake of his head and pushed himself up into a sitting position. A frown formed on Sebastian’s face as he watched him, feeling guilty. He should’ve just left well enough alone. Now Joseph was up, and it was his fault.  
  
"No," Joseph said. "No, not here. Are you heading off to go sleep in the bed?"  
  
"I was planning on it," Sebastian told him.  
  
"I’ll come with you," his partner said. "There’s no reason for me to fall back asleep on the couch now."  
  
Sebastian supposed he couldn’t argue with that. He stood patiently and waited for Joseph to collect himself, and it wasn’t long before his partner rose to his feet, grabbed his glasses from the table, turned off the lamp, and followed him into the bedroom. Hina was right there at his feet, and she was in the bed before Sebastian could even turn the light on and close the door behind them.  
  
Joseph carefully stored his glasses on the bedside table before changing into his typical nightclothes: a loose tshirt and loose boxers. Sebastian simply stripped down to his underwear, mentally reminding himself for the hundredth time that month to start leaving clothes here. There was no reason not to at this point, other than the fact that it felt like he was tiptoeing too close into “boyfriends” territory that way. He wasn’t quite sure  _what_  he and Joseph were anymore, but the last thing he wanted was to cross any boundaries or make this uncomfortable and weird. Joseph gently shooed Hina away from the pillows as he climbed into bed, and Sebastian turned out the light and followed him.  
  
It was as though by some natural force that they fell together every time they laid down beside one another, and Joseph rolled into Sebastian’s arms like he belonged there. As far as Sebastian was concerned, he did. Maybe that pushed too far into “boyfriends” territory, too, but he didn’t care. The whole point of this kind of late-night closeness was to find comfort and chase away shadows, no matter what they had to do in order to get there. As a result, they were far closer than any two friends ever ought to be. They were affectionate; they cuddled; they kissed; they fucked. But Sebastian wasn’t so delusional as to think there was anything romantic about it, as much as he secretly wished there could be. He’d stopped lying to himself about his feelings for Joseph shortly after seeing him alive again outside of STEM, but those feelings were dark, terrible things that he only ever kept to himself.  
  
Joseph leaned in and caught Sebastian’s lips in a kiss, and he returned it immediately. It was close-lipped and tender - a perfect “goodnight” kiss - and Sebastian felt himself relax as he exhaled deeply through his nose. Even as they parted, Joseph didn’t pull or turn away completely.  
  
"I’m glad you’re here tonight," he said quietly.  
  
Even though he knew that his partner couldn’t see him in the dark, Sebastian smiled a tiny smile. He felt Joseph run his fingers through his hair before resting the palm of his hand against the side of his neck.  
  
"You were sleeping soundly before I showed up," Sebastian said.  
  
"Still," Joseph said. "I sleep more soundly when you’re here, regardless."  
  
Sebastian chuckled softly. “I love you too, Joseph.”  
  
It was said teasingly, as a joke. It was the only way he could ever bring himself to say it. Anything more serious, and he was sure that this whole thing would come to a screeching halt and end in disaster. STEM had taught him that there was nothing he feared more in this world or any other than losing Joseph, and the thought of driving him away with his words and misplaced affection was absolutely terrifying. Joseph simply returned the laugh and gave Sebastian a playful shove to the shoulder.  
  
"Get some sleep," Joseph said. Sebastian could hear the smile in his voice.  
  
Joseph turned over in Sebastian’s arms, facing away from him as he settled more comfortably against the mattress. Sebastian merely cuddled up to him even closer, burying his face in his partner’s hair and nuzzling his nose behind his ear. Outside, a light rain began to fall, and it pattered softly against the window just beyond Joseph’s face.  
  
As the world settled in around them, Joseph weaved his fingers through Sebastian’s and held his hand against his chest. It was moments like this one that completely eroded any lingering fears Sebastian had of the dark and replaced them with something so much more wonderful and comfortable. Lying there in the blanketing darkness of the bedroom, holding Joseph close as Hina slept at their feet - where all he could hear was the steady fall of rain on the glass and the sound of Joseph’s deep, relaxed breathing - where he could feel his partner’s heart beat beneath the palm of his hand, and he could feel the warmth of his body and drink in the light scent of his shampoo -  
  
This was what peace sounded like, Sebastian realized. What it felt like. There were no ghosts, monsters, or demons in this world. Here, there was only him and Joseph, and not even the darkness could scare him away.

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for Haunted #31 in the Exchange. I hope they loved it, and I hope you did, too. I just want to cling to the idea that there could possibly be a happy ending to this game for as long as possible. Well, "happy." Just a magical land of sunshine where everyone survives and it all works out and they all shoot rainbows out of their ass (not literally).
> 
> As always, I'd love some constructive criticism if you have it. Thank you for reading.


End file.
